T H E P R I M I T I V E S P A R K S T O R Y

Elegant Web Interactions

Primitive Spark is an award-winning digital marketing agency with

offices in Los Angeles and Denver. Specializing in user-centered digital

product design, with a primary focus on complex applications, the team

at Primitive Spark is passionate about cutting through big data to create

simple interfaces.

Primitive Spark takes an anthropological approach to discover what

people and businesses need from each other. The team thoughtfully

engages real people in real world environments. Primitive Spark is

dedicated to realizing creative and technical possibilities that spark

truly inspiring interactive experiences. They are one of the few digital

marketing agencies focused on designing elegantly simple interfaces for

complex applications, and have emerged as the leader in the industry.

I N D U S T R Y

Agency | Digital Marketing

C O M P A N Y

Primitive Spark

S I Z E

10-100 Employees

W H A T M A V E N L I N K R E P L A C E D

Google Sheets, Basecamp,

Smartsheet, Trello

B E N E F I T S

• 136% Increase in Profit

Margin

• 116% Increase in Billable

Utilization

• Simplified Systems

Footprint from 4 to 1

• Newfound Visibility into Real-

Time Business Performance

S U C C E S S S T O R Y

Primitive Spark Improves

Utilization and Profit Margins

More Than 100% with Mavenlink

2

T H E C H A L L E N G E

Growing Company, Inadequate Systems

Two years ago, Primitive Spark began to pivot towards focusing on web app

development specifically for B2B organizations. The company experienced

substantial growth during this time of transition, as more resources were

required to keep up with demand. Today, Primitive Spark has nearly doubled

in size. To efficiently manage incoming demand, almost half of their team

consists of freelancers, UX professionals, and independent web developers.

According to Brooke, with growth came operational complications. “We were

using a variety of disparate systems including Google Sheets for estimating

and burn reports, Basecamp for time tracking, Smartsheet for scheduling,

email for workflow approvals, Trello for requirements, and a lot of exporting/

importing. But it was kind of patchwork, time consuming, and fraught with

potential for human error as we exported from one system to another.”

Primitive Spark had no way of seeing all of the moving parts that occurred

during a project’s lifespan. It was nearly impossible to understand the

financial impact that their decisions were having on margins. From Brooke,

“In the past, we would hope and pray we would hit our project margins. We

had no real insight until the project was complete, and it was based on the

data we had access to in the Google Sheets.”

F R O M T H E S O U R C E

“In the past, we would hope and

pray we would hit our project

margins. We had no real insight

until the project was complete,

and it was based on the data

we had access to in the Google

Sheets.”

– Brooke Coe, Project Director, Primitive Spark

F A V O R I T E M A V E N L I N K F E A T U R E

Estimates vs. Actual

"Executives at Primitive Spark check the Estimates vs. Actuals report on a weekly basis.

Each week I will schedule my team for certain projects, and I compare their actuals

to what we scheduled — if there is a negative variance, it will start eating into my

budgets and I need to do something about it. The ability to respond to project conflict

on the fly allows me to make adjustments before it affects my margins.”

— Brooke Coe, Project Director, Primitive Spark

78%

23

DESIGN

54%

60%

21 1666

40%

15%15 2231 70%

20%

05 877

DEVELOPMENT

PRODUCTION

BRANDING

$

$

$

$

DEPARTMENTS

124:00

Q 2 Q 3 Q 4

3

T H E S W I T C H T O M A V E N L I N K

The Need for One Comprehensive System

Primitive Spark hit a tipping point where their growth outpaced their

operational efficiencies. According to Brooke, the requirements for the

team were “as simple as they were complex.” “We needed a comprehensive

system where we could track time, manage resources and timelines, and gain

project insight all in a single location — without exporting and importing

into other systems.” The end goal of migrating to a core operating platform

was to get better data to aid in key decision making. There were several areas

where they needed more insight, including:

• What resources were available to work, and when.

• How burn rates were affecting project margins.

• How resources were tracking towards utilization targets.

Intuitive User Interface

Primitive Spark also needed a solution with industry-leading UX/UI

explains Brooke, “That’s what we do as a company.” According to Brooke,

“We actually piloted Accelo but then dropped it due to many actions being

multistep versus one click, and the UI wasn’t as good as we hoped. We also

looked at: 10,000ft, Asana, Blossom, Clarizen, Dapulse, LiquidPlanner, Rally,

Smartsheet, Teamwork, Timelog, VersionOne, Workfront, Workzone, and

Wrike. Mavenlink was clearly the best.”

F R O M T H E S O U R C E

“We needed a comprehensive

system where we could track

time, manage resources and

timelines, and gain project

insight all in a single location —

without exporting and importing

into other systems.”

– Brooke Coe, Project Director, Primitive Spark

We actually piloted Accelo but then dropped it due to many actions

being multi-step versus one click, and the UI wasn’t as good as we

hoped. We also looked at: 10,000ft, Asana, Blossom, Clarizen, Dapulse,

LiquidPlanner, Rally, Smartsheet, Teamwork, Timelog, VersionOne,

Workfront, Workzone, and Wrike. Mavenlink was clearly the best.

— BROOKE COE, PROJECT DIRECTOR, PRIMITIVE SPARK

“

“

www.mavenlink.com • @mavenlink 6501 Irvine Center Dr. Suite 250 • Irvine, CA 92618

©2017 Mavenlink • Rev. 04/17

The Results

116% Increase in Billable Utilization in the Last 6 Months

“We can actually measure utilization now, where before it was based on how busy

someone told us they were. We are now able to maximize our internal utilization

before bringing on freelancers which avoids unnecessary additional costs.”

136% Increase in Profit Margin in the Last 6 Months

According to Brooke, “We can evaluate quickly if we can handle a new project coming

aboard with current resources or if we need to hire freelancers. We have witnessed a

significant increase in profit margin since we started using Mavenlink.”

Simplified Systems Footprint from 4 to 1

“We were using a variety of disparate systems including Google Sheets for estimating

and burn reports, Basecamp for time tracking, Smartsheet for scheduling, email for

workflow approvals, Trello for requirements, and a lot of exporting/importing. But it

was kind of patchwork, time consuming, and fraught with potential for human error

as we exported from one system to another.” Mavenlink replaced all four systems.

Newfound Visibility into Real-Time Business Performance

“In the past, we would hope and pray we would hit our project margins. We had no

real insight until the project was complete.” Mavenlink provided real-time visibility.

We can actually measure utilization now, where before it was based on

how busy someone told us they were. We are now able to maximize

our internal utilization before bringing on freelancers which avoids

unnecessary additional costs.

— BROOKE COE, PROJECT DIRECTOR, PRIMITIVE SPARK

“

“

31 0 17 31 0 17

6 Projects

3 Tasks

4 Projects

2 Tasks

124

115

TIM

E

125:30

140:30

90:00